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Tory MPP Monte McNaughton is linking Ontario unions to the kind of corruption exposed in Quebec

Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi told the legislature Monday "there is no such evidence of any such activity (of union corruption similar to that being investigated in Quebec) in our province." (Toronto Star file photo)

Tory MPP Monte McNaughton is linking Ontario unions to the kind of corruption exposed in Quebec.

Although he offered no proof, McNaughton (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex) drew a direct line between the union movement in the province and matters uncovered by Quebec’s Charbonneau commission probing collusion in the construction industry and corruption in politics.

“Last week, through Quebec’s Charbonneau commission, we learned of union dues being used to rebuild a biker strip club, false expense claims totalling more than $4,000 for a single union executive member and, of course, plenty of connections between union bosses and organized crime,” McNaughton told the legislature Monday.

“Premier, what are you doing to ensure Ontario union dues are being used in a transparent and accountable manner and not being misspent and misappropriated?” he asked Premier Kathleen Wynne.

“There is no such evidence of any such activity in our province,” Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi responded when McNaughton raised the need for union transparency in the legislature Monday.

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McNaughton, the Tory labour critic, urged the government to bring in a law requiring unions to declare publicly how they spend members’ dues.

“Are you willing to side with ordinary Ontario residents and move forward by requiring public sector unions to be open and transparent as to where and how they’re spending their members’ dues?” McNaughton said.

“We have seen public sector unions using hard-earned dues to pay for anti-bottled-water campaigns, to fund student protests in Quebec, to support anti-Israel campaigns and to fund G20 protestors here in Toronto. This explains why public sector union bosses have fought so hard against any disclosure law that their own membership supports in droves.”

Naqvi and others chalked up McNaughton’s allegation to further efforts by the Progressive Conservative Party to demonize organized labour. The party has also recommended in a series of policy papers that a Tory government would kill the Rand Formula, which requires all members of a unionized shop to pay dues.

“I think what’s hidden behind the question that the member opposite has proposed going forward is their constant attack on organized trade unions in our province, their ongoing effort to bring everybody in Ontario down to make sure that the wages of hard-working Ontarians get lower and lower,” the minister said.

“We believe that unions have an important role to play in our economy. They work hard towards ensuring that the wages of all workers go up.”

“They (Tories) just hate us,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union., noting in particular the Tory dislike for the Ontario Building Trades, which help fund the Working Families Coalition that actively campaigns against the Progressive Conservatives.

Thomas challenged McNaughton to repeat the allegations of union corruption outside the legislature where he is not protected by parliamentary immunity. In the meantime, he offered to show Tory leader Tim Hudak any time how his large public sector union spends its money.

Pat Dillon, business manager for the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, said what McNaughton is alleging is “unfair and untrue.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the Tories are again “of throwing stuff up against the wall and seeing if it is going to stick, particularly it is against working people and their organizations. I think it ugly and divisive.”

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